Pope Francis highlighted the practical effects of the ceasefire in Gaza today. At the end of the January 22 general audience, he urged prayers for peace, as he nearly always does.
"And let us not forget the tormented Ukraine. Let us not forget Palestine, Israel and Myanmar. Let us pray for peace. War is always a defeat!" he said.
Then the Pope added:
Yesterday I called -- I do it every day -- the parish in Gaza: They were happy! There are 600 people in there, between parish and school. And they told me, “Today we had lentils with chicken.” Something they were not used to doing in these times: just some vegetables, something … They were happy!
However the Holy Father insisted on the need for prayer to keep and advance the peace.
But we pray for Gaza, for peace, and for so many other parts of the world. War always is a defeat! Do not forget: War is a defeat. And who gains from wars? The manufacturers of the weapons. Please pray for peace.
Going forward
Aleteia's John Burger noted that the regional director of one of the main Catholic charities in the Holy Land insists that the ongoing occupation is a stumbling block for peace.
Joseph Hazboun, regional director of Catholic Near East Welfare Association-Pontifical Mission for Palestine, based in Jerusalem, said that “keeping the Palestinians from having an independent state or enjoying some sort of dignified freedom will not guarantee security for the Israelis.”
“Only peace and freedom, and a life with dignity can secure for the Israelis the security that they need, and provide for the Palestinians a sense of peace and security for them as well,” Hazboun said.
He said that the root cause of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the organization that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, is Israel’s continued occupation of the Strip and the West Bank, as well as new Jewish settlements and expansion of existing ones in Palestinian territories.
“As long as there is occupation, there will never be real peace,” he said.
Also impeding progress is Israel’s practice of “keeping the Palestinians contained in containers.”
“That's what the Palestinian cities are; they are containers where the Palestinians are held, controlled by the Israeli military by numerous checkpoints,” he said. “The number of iron gates put on Palestinian roads within the West Bank has grown enormously since October 7 [2023]. Only yesterday, three or four more gates were installed, even around Bethlehem, so people don't have freedom of movement.”
